Another Year, Another Updated Honda

A
Honda's lifecycle is typically as predictable as the moon's orbit. A car like
the Civic would typically get a ground-up redesign every four or five years.
Sure, there'd be a few added features to keep up with the times and an
obligatory midlife tweaking of the taillights or grille, but in general,
Honda's mantra was, "It ain't broke, so we don't fix it."

The 2014 Honda Civic belongs to a generation
that has required fixing. It was introduced two years ago with an uninspired
redesign that seemed little improved over the car it replaced and certainly not
good enough to compete with new, highly desirable competitors. As others were
marching up field, Honda punted.

That
changed last year, when the Civic received the upgrades it should've had in the
first place. Interior quality, styling, feature content and the driving
experience were all upgraded, while improvements to its already exemplary crash
performance were icing on the cake. For 2014, the changes continue, and while
they're certainly not as significant as those last year, they are nevertheless
noteworthy additions that keep the Civic on offense.

All-New Automatic for 2014
While the Civic coupe gets a subtle styling adjustment, the Civic sedan carries
over visually unchanged. For both, however, the biggest development for 2014 is
the new continuously variable transmission (CVT) that replaces the previous
five-speed automatic transmission. A CVT lacks gears entirely, instead relying
on a chainlike belt that expands and contracts to continuously vary (hence the
name) the transmission ratio for optimum engine performance and efficiency.

Frankly,
this negligible year-to-year improvement (the EPA estimates you'll save about
$50 per year) may not be enough to persuade those who dislike CVTs. Such
transmissions have often been greeted by confusion or even disdain by drivers
accustomed to cars going through a series of gears when accelerating. By
contrast, a CVT can rev for as long and high as necessary, making it seem at
times like the car is stuck in a low gear. Other common complaints include
obnoxious droning noises and a yo-yo effect where revs constantly and
excessively rise and fall depending on how much throttle is being applied.

Thankfully,
the Civic's CVT is one of the best we've experienced, as it largely mitigates
these side effects. There is still some drone that washes over that sweet Honda
motor sound, but it's not aggravating. The yo-yo effect is negligible when
driving around town, but became pronounced on the mountainous section of our
evaluation route. Dropping the transmission selector down into Sport mode
reduced this, instructing the CVT to keep the engine revving higher despite the
adverse fuel economy effects. Still, the Manual mode and paddle shifters
included with the Civic coupe would be appreciated.

Paddles or no, there is indeed a similarly
slight improvement in performance for the 2014 Honda Civic. A sprint from zero
to 60 mph takes 9.1 seconds (8.7 seconds with a foot of rollout as
on a drag strip) versus the 9.6 seconds it took the 2013 Civic and its
five-speed automatic. Improvement is improvement, but the Civic remains one of
the slower compact sedans in the class. The more powerful engines found in the Ford Focus, Kia Forte EX
and Mazda 3i shave nearly a second off the Civic's time. The Mazda 3
"s" and newly turbocharged Volkswagen Jettaare faster
still.

New Technology Interface
Frankly, however, it seems unlikely that Honda's mailroom has been inundated
with complaints concerning the Civic's acceleration. There is a chance,
however, that younger shoppers have walked into the showroom and been
underwhelmed by the Civic's gadgets, gizmos and the interface needed to control
them.

For
them, a new touchscreen electronics interface debuts in the Civic EX and above
(the base LX still features last year's physical buttons and high-mounted
display screen). All buttons and knobs have been removed, replaced by
additional menu levels and touch-operated menu icons adjacent to the screen.
Our opinions were mixed on its level of usability.

The
head unit certainly looks cooler than before, as there's a clear resemblance to
an iPad, but it suffers from a functionality standpoint. The touch-only
controls are more responsive than some others we've tried, but we'd still
prefer a knob for the volume. Within the touchscreen itself, going between
submenus is a multistep process, and many buttons are too small or vaguely
labeled. Both are added distractions while driving.

Then
again, one editor found the system to be perfectly intuitive and declared the
rest of us to be old men. We aren't, literally, but as the Civic tends to be
just as popular among older drivers as it is with millennials, it's a telling
comment about who may have trouble with this system.